Recording apparatus for use in connection with advertising devices and the like.



H. K. HARRIS.

RECORDING APPARATUS FOR USE IN CONNECTION WITH ADVERHSING DEVICES AN;- THE LIKE. AEPUCATION man gum-:1. 19:5.

Patented Jan. 21, 1919 2 SHEETS-SHEEI 1.

H2517 Kings fozzz' Harris ATM/WE);

H. K. HARRIS. USE IN CONNECTION WITH ADVERTISING DEVICES ANII' THE LIKE.

RECORDING APPARATUS FOR APPLICATION mm IuNE'I, m5

Patented Jan. 21 191% 1,291,863. HHEETHHEM f v B QEI A TTUIF/VEYJ TTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY KIN GSFORD HARRIS OF WESTMINSTER, LONDON, ENGLAND. I

RECORDING APPARATUS FOR USE IN CONNECTION WITH ADVERTISING DEVICES AND THE LIKE. I I l Specification of Letters Patent.

Y Patented Jan. 21, 1919.

To m'i whom it may mmcrn:

Be. it known that I IInxnY Kixusronn ITARRIH, a sub ect of the street, Testminster. in the count of London, England. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Recording .\p-- paratus for Ilse in Connection with Advertising Devices and the like; and I do herelnr declare the following to he a full, clear. and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an electrical recording mechanism which is more particularlv applicable or use in connection with devices for exhibiting public announcements, advertisements or the like, in \vhich'tho mechanism for setting the bands. cards, flaps or other means carrying or forming letters or other symbols tohe exhibited are. set by electrical impulses transmitted from a sending station.

The object of the apparatus is to enable the various settings. of the. advertising or otherapparatus at the exhibiting station to be recorded, thus affording a check upon the operator. especially in the case. of handtransmitted impulses and also rendering it possible to preserve permanent details of ad vcrtisements or other announcements em hibited.

In order that the said invention may he clearlyunderstood. I will describe one repre sentative form of theapparatus with reference to the. acconunmying drawings, inv

turn the. ratchet wheel in the direction of The axle of the wheel 1 passes the arrow. through the casing and has mounted there King of Great.- Britain and Ireland. residing at 96 "'lt'tfillzl on in such a manner that its position can be wheel 3 runs in contact with a rotary inking pad 4 carried upon a detachable arm 5 kept pressed against the type wheel bvn'ieans of a springti. The arm 5 is shown detached at Fig. 4 in plan; it will be seen that a shield 5" is provided which comes arolind the lower part of the inking pad 4 for-the purpose hereafter specified. 7 is a feeding lever and 8 feeding rollers, the upper one being mounted upon an arm 9, theaxle of'which passes into the casing and has mounted thereon asnaillike catch 10 upon which the end of a flat spring 11 presses. In this mannerthe upper feeding roller 8 is pressed tightly into .contact with the lower rollerS, this latter roller 8 being caused to rotate periodicallywith the. feedingmechanism, in the n'ianner hereinat'ter described. I

12 is a wheel carrying a roll of tape. 13 which passes 'down around the guide roller 14 beneath the metallic shield of the inking roller 4 over the upper portion of the. feed: ing lever 7 between upstanding guides. be neath a pin 15 and thence between the feeding rollers 8 nd on to the strip 1t). 17 is an electro-magn'et which is arranged to be constantly in the impulse eircuit ot' every unit ashereinafter explained with reference to the diagram of connections. Each time an impulse passes, the electromagnet 1 7 causes.

whichfiis also provided with a projecting screw 22, adapted when the leveris rocked up previously ex 'lla ined come into con-.

and release a locking tact with an arm 23 pawl 24 from engagement with the spring rotated ratchet-wheel 1. 25 is a nose adjacent the projecting screw 22. This nose when the preceding action has taken place.

comes out of contact with the lever Ztiernd allows another'pawl 27 to engage with" the teeth of the ratchet wheel 1 by means of a.

spring 28. Each time the electromagnet 27 are the roughened been sent to any particular unit and. the

is operatedthe pawl 18 rotatestthe ratchet, wheel through one tooth, as prevlously ex-i plained and the ratchet who is prevented from turning back by meansof a hooked pawl 27. When a' series of impulses has swi ch is just going to be changed over to rise which action causes the pawl 24 to. en-' the next unit the circuits are so arran ed that the current to produce this e ect' thereon a lever 31. 32 is a pin mounted some way along this leverwhich passes through a .slot in the casing and is connected to a downwardly extending arm 33 of the arm 23, thus'when the electromagnet 2 is again energized, the arm'31 is caused to gage with the ratchet'wheel L1,!1t'tl16 same time this arm 23 forces up the bottom of the screw 22 and causes the projectingnose .25 thereof to force the retained pawl 26 from. engagement with theteeth. 'Onthe outside of the casing this action has caused the screw 34 to )ress beneath thefeedin piece 7 and-lift. 1t upward. Tlns forcesa portionof the tape'or paper 'int-o contact with the particular letter on the type-wheel which has beenzbrought into iosit-ion bythe movement of the ratchet whecll. UWhen the current through the;electromagnet 29 is broken. the armiil drops. This causes, the pawl 2% to bebrought out of contactwlth the teeth of -.the, ratchet wheel l'a-nd .as-now there ,is nothing holding the said ratchet wheel it. turns around-1n the direction of the arrow; under the action of the spring in the spring barrel '2 until the damping projection 35 comes into eontactwith tl1B-tIdJIISttIbl0 stop, 36 bringing: theparts into position shown, in .l ig..5. ready .for starting. The'.

paper strip has beencausedto' traretby'the previous actionowing to a pin 31" projectmg from. the. lever 31 mto'azslot n-rthe eas-' ingand engaging. in a .tongue 37 'atthe end of the locking arm 39. The spindle o'f-the. locking arm has connected-thereto atithe 1nterior of the casing an arm 39 at the endof which is located,a 'spring pawl 40which engages with the ratchet wheel-141;. 42 is a spring controlled pawl. :i The spindle 43' of the ratchet wheela il extends through the casing and upon this projecting-spindle the 3 lower feeding wheel 8 islocated. Consequently when the' arm, 311iSJ'00k6d upward the lower wheel 8; is rotated in thetdirection of the arrow 44=--and as. thelnpper roller 8, is kept pressed tightly upon the lower roller [and f-both; rollersmare serrated or roughened nponthelr rolling surfaces,- the Upon paper will-{be pulled between same. another series ofzimpulses being sent the be "readily understood,-

printing. wheel is again brought into aisuitable position and when the selecting switch is operated the electromagnet 29 15 again operated which prints a fresh letter or the of the,letters,.signs orkother characters set eferring to Fig. 5, a recorder 1s,shown of hand-transmitting apparatus ,fin which a number of contacts 48 'areadaptedtoj send electrical impulses over-suitable lines to advertising units 45 each provided with a magnet 46. A switca 48 is provided controlled by an electromagnet 47 of high resistance, forswit'chingieach unit 45 intocircnit in succes sion, that is to saya unit'is brought into circuit by a suitable impulse being sent to the magnet 47 causing the arm 48' to throw 'the said unit into circuit and-thena series of electrical'impulsesare sent to the magnet 46 of this unit which causes say a selector to be set into a certain position. This selector subsequently determines the position that a bandor the like bearing letters, numerals or other signs is to take up. The electro-magnet 17 of the recorder 50 is arranged in the seen that eachimpulse will cause the ratchet wheel '1' to be moved by the pawl 18 through like. Inlthisway a complete record iskept in the various units and in their exhibited .se uence.

suitably connected to the circuit of o ne type 7! circuit over which the electrical impulses are sent to set the selectorand it willthus' be one tooth-and as'thecharacters on the print ing wheel 3 aresiuiilar and in I similar order to those upon the advertis ng band or;

the like, the printing wheelwill, e set' so that the letter or'the like in the printing POSI- tion thereon is the same as that which will be set in-the particular unit under I consideranon;

- When the required number of impulses has been sent to'the particular unit, as be- -fore stated, a current ISSeHt through the electromagnet 47 which causes the switch arm 48 to be moved on to the next unit. In the circuito'ver which this current flows tlu magnet29 is arranged and as previously described when a current passes through this magnet the letter or thehke on the printing wheel 3 which is for the tiine being in the printing position, is printed; and then the ockmg pawls holding the ratchet wheel 1 are released causing the said ratchet wheel to turnback to ts initial position under the action of the spring in the spring barrel 2 and at the same tlme the paper strip bearing the printed impression is moved onward or spaced, bringing a fresh portion into posit1on for receiving the next impression;

From the foregoing description of the neral operationpf the device, the followmg detailed statement of the operationjwill The transmltter shown diagranm y y' fly".ofpx-amplc, hand transmitter of the dial type, the pointer handle 80 is pivoted at the center and has two conducting I bridges with suitable spring brushes 81 conby a spring necting the respective studs and rings as described hereinafter. I The handle is set around to the desired letter, and the return movement is effected control with a. fly governor, (not shown).

The instrument is so arranged that when the pointer handle is moved forward by hand for setting no contacts are made but.

as it returns under the influence of its spring control, it first sends the letter determining impulses to set the unit selector which is in the circuit and then sends the spacing impulse, and on comlngto the rest position switches 1n the rest circuit and battery. I mean by the rest circuit a circuit which is operative when the instrument is at rest. being efi ected. the green and red signal lamps 59 and 58 and attached to the mechanism within is the elect-romagnet in circuit with a redlamp which automatically locks the movement when the setting of .tlieselector at the disthrough-the insulated conductor on the arm through the green 40 to the studs 52 and 53. It passes from 53 line 60 to the first plate 62011 the selector atthcexhibiting station, that is to the first jack or stud (32, through the selector brush stud 64 on the outer circle.

studs marked fore-passes from the inner ring 63 through arm 48 which rests upon it, when the selector is .ready for resetting, to earth andback through the earth to the contact ring 55, through the other insulated conductor on the pointer arm to the stud 54 and thence to the negative pole of the rest battery. This causes the green lamp 59 to-be lighted so that the operator knows he can reset. He therefore moves the pointer to the second This causes the brushes it carries to leave 52, 53, 54, and 51 and to make contact instead between the inner ring 63 and the secondstud outer circle and between the second and third rings 55 and 66. The inner ring is connected to the positive bio of the hundred volt supply from the motor generator. This isnot showmbutitis'in connection withthe and The current therethe pointer arm to the second contact stud 64, thence through the spacing magnet 29 of the printer, through the line 61 through ring 66 and so back to the that is when no settings are Mounted on the case are lamp 59 thence over the 64 on the I the high resistance magnet 47 which moves the selector arm 48 to the second contact plate or jack, thecurrent going from the magnet to earth and thence to the earth at the-transmitting station, to the ring 55 through the pointer arm to the next. out-er motor generator. The effect of this has been to move the selector arm 'as described and space the. paper in the printer as no type is in the printing position. The pointer arm has returned to zero but does not now close any lamp circuit as the selector arm 48 hasbeen moved and the operator now letter he desires and allows it to turn. Thls sends current from the positive'pole of. the

generator by the inner ring 63 through the pointer arm 'to' the. outer contact studs 49 which are connected together and of which only a few are shown that is the first three) thence from 49 to the type wheel settingsets the pointer to the first V i magnet 17 and thence to the line 60. As the pointer arm returns it makes and breaks a number of contacts according to the number of studs 49 1t passes over. These current impulses through the magnet}? set the type wheel to the corresponding letter and passing on by the line 60 .take the circuit through theselector magnet of the first unit 45, as it is on this one that the arm 4S'rests, thence it returns by the earth to the transmitting station and bythe ring and pointer arm to the negative pole of the generator. The pointer arm as it returns, after sending the impulses by the contacts 49, passes over the second stud 64 as before described. This sends an impulse through .the magnet 29,

printing the letter carried by the type'wheel which was set in position by the last operation, and spacingthe paper tape ready for a new indication and returning the type wheel to zero. The same impulse operating the magnet 47 moves the unit switching arm 48 to the third contact. The operatlon is repeated until all the selectors in the units 45 havebeen set and the arm 48 is automatically moved on as before from-the last unit contact jack'to the last contact jack 70 which is connected to the line 61. This completes the circuit. \Vhen the pointer arm of the transmitter comes to rest, the circuit is closed from the positive of the rest bat tery 71 through the stud 51, the pointer arm to the stud 52, through the locking magnet inside thetransmitter (not shown butm circuit with the red lan'p 58, looking the pointer arm) through the red lamo58- and the line 61 to the last'contact jack 70 on the unit switching selector, through the arm 48 and thence to earth and back to the negative pole of the rest battery 71 as before described. It should be noted that the magnet 47 being of high resistance is not affected by the low voltage rest current and prevents the current from going to earth that way as it chooses the path of least: resistance by the" "tier, electro-magnetic means in circuit. with last jack and arm 48. \Vhen the arm v one of said display devices for actuating the v .restsiliere; italso, byia plate ,itvearries, closes type bearing member to bring the :lat' er into nilitijstillftlli g circuit of the motor; whieh-vsets printing position, means fors-briiiiging the iiheuuitsin position byjoining the-twozstudsf series of-vdisplay devices si-icccssively into 70 11 'ZI-tandj'Qnh r y .circuitwith said electro-magnetic' actuating in it hetcase shown, firstof allithe selectors device, said last named means comprising a ,46 iiithe units 45 are all set,- into p'osition for switch arnna'series of contaetseaeh having determining tlieiposition'to be taken up by electrical -connection" with one of said dis- 10. the exhibiting bands Oli'tlielllk in the units play devices; a magnet .for moving said and after this has been done,- asijust-Jdeswitch arm, a magnet carried by the recordscribed, ,the Contact arm of the unitswitching device in circuit witli-tlie .switch' aetuatying selector, that is thearm 48, closes a .ing magnet,.and means controlled-by the rec-ireiiit whichcauses a. motor todrive all the cording device magnett'or,resetting the type 15 liands or the :likii, or a number, of motors, bearing member to its original position.

-.\\'lieleeilcll llnlt has-it.own,.forbringing-the 3.v.T he combination with a iluralitygof e exhibiting" members into position.g electrically actuated display devices, of a re- In the apparatus under consideration, the cording devieeliavin'g a type bearing memtype wheel' whenat zer0,.1presents'a blank b er, 'electrounagnetiemeansin circuit with 20 to the tapeand therefore does not print and one-of said display devices for actuating the if. the. spacingmagnet isaoperated it simply type bearing member to bring the latter into y L inqvggon thetape which has nothing imprinting POSltlOllyJllOflllS for bringing the pressed thereon. g 1: y [Y vseriesJof displaydevices, successively into his to bejob senved tliat byinovi igtlie circuit with said clia-troanagnetieactuating 25 selector arm for seleeti -ng tliefunits in ,siicdevice,- said last named means comprising a eession hat iggby. moving gon'the arm 48 switch, a seriesof coiitacts each having elceand when it isjnpositionmaking the con- .{trieal connection with one of said display tact by means ,of the transmitter arm with Qdevices,' a magnet for-moving.said switch,

. the spacingcpntactstud atffigno indication a magnet carried by. the recordi igdevice in I 50 issliownon theimi't 45. cori'esponding toithe circuit .with the switch actuating; magnet,

stud in the unit sy'vitchingselectorand that means controlled by the recordinggdeviee if the arm 8 'is th iis Qflllsed to trayeLover magnet for causing the. typebearing member an niin.1ber of thestuds 0r jacks, say 5-,jit to'print' a record, and means for resetting f0 lows thatfive units will be left blank or t the type bearing member to, its original, .pos r iftheejrm st see the ja -1 1i. s t I 5 V 5; i i Theappara'tuswhich hasbeen-deseribed 4;. Thea-ombinatibinwith -,a =pluralit.y; of

in detail islintendedforiusewhere impulses electrically, actuated display devices, ofa ,re-V

-Jet-settingadireetly ted blindyeelqitoivor cording devieerhaving atypebearii' ginem- Ashe: e iz q i"b -lli 1- et s 1 e h I be .e. Qt 'Q- m n :m anw n ,ci c it w t tosmbols intojpositionyqr ;jor detenmining oneofsaid display dev ces for actuating the ,t QPQEQitIQIIiintQ which "sneh letters qnsym- .typebearmg member to bring thelatter into bOIS are tgj'be-zbfoilgli'tg isemployedi .pr nting 'po sition,means foi' bringinga'the,

i Minor modifications?oi consti'iletion may series of display devices successively into 5.11m introduced; 1 hoiitf depaiiting fro n t h e cireuitwith said electro nagiietic actuating ltiligi'ii iiplg jqf my$pi36 eat-inv ntion 1 1 device, said last named means comp -is nga. 11o wl at lgclaim as j inventibn and des re i switchi a seriesof contactseach having elecw fi tei bML $eF PeW Qith aUBite tri con t e a -s d displ y States of Amerieafisi. H a devices v a magnet .-for moving said switch,

' 1. V e; combination with: a; plurality-of a magnet carried by the. recordingdeviee 6Q; electrieallygaet ated display devices,- of a' in circuit with the switch actuatingmagnet,

reeordi ng -deyioehavinga'type bearing mei ji means. controlled; by the recording device her;e1eetrormagnetie meansgineirei t with magnetforeausing the type bearing memf oneof -said 'display deviees for a ta ating the her to record, a record,earnerl-and gmeans type bearing neinber to b gin 33 116 latter ,hforcausi'ng the employ StQp"m0 V0lIl0l1t 'o- 'M into printing position, ni eans go) bringing the reeord earriq for spacingthe-characters 120 Y th I i ec ess ively into of the,1;ecord. a

I p q ieii isicoinprising a electricallyaet iateddisplaydevices,ofareswitch,aiseriesot eontaets eaeli liavin elec-i cording idevicehaving a type-bearinganemeo trieajl eoniieetion .yyit ii oiie 0t said ispl ay ,ber, eleet ronagnetie means in circuit with fieyic es, and mag et' for n oying said flone o'fsaid display: devices foig aetuating the a k i tyne-he lin em l?. ?i'n h it 2'.,'T-he Ql1pinttbiOn 'W1th a plurality-cf printing position, means;forgbringing the 5?, v tall "eq i atei'lsl e lex;de i es 9 fi ifih ll i y e i w s r lxi w rv t eifd ed qt q he a ene e ie mems it with sa d i t -im g e ow 'u x ng.d- 0

1 ing the step by vice, said last named means comprising a switch, a series of contacts each having electri -al connection with one of said display devices, a magnet formoving said switch, a magnet cairied by the recording device in circuit with the switch actuating magnet, means controlled by the recording device magnet for causing the'type bearing member to record, a record carrier, means for causstep movement of the record carrier for spacing the characters of the record, and means for resetting the type bearing member to its original position.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

Witnesses A. G. VIDAL, L. SIMMONDS. 

